Conventionally, majority of cushioning material used for packaging products is shared by the one made from synthetic resin such as foamed styrol or PVC for example. However, majority of used cushioning material is abandoned without being collected. After being abandoned in reclaimed land, cushioning material cannot be decomposed spontaneously. When being burnt, cushioning material generates an enormous degree of heat to incur damage to combustion facilities, thus raising critical problem.
To solve this problem and innovate cushioning material capable of replacing conventional cushioning material made from synthetic resin, molded pulp material made from recycled paper or pulp via a vacuum milling process or such a cushioning material availing of cylindrically formed paper board or compressively molded pulp material, have respectively been offered for use. In this case, solution containing about 1 to 2% by weight of fibrous recycled paper dissolved in water is dehydrated and molded into the above-cited pulp-molded cushioning material via a vacuum milling process before eventually being dried, and as a result, produced cushioning material has substantial density and hard surface enough to potentially damage coated surface of packaged product. Furthermore, according to the above art, there is a certain limit to mold cushioning material having substantial thickness, and therefore, even the cushioning material based on the above art cannot be applied to practical use requiring substantial strength.
On the other hand, the above-cited cushioning material using cylindrically formed paper board and compressively formed pulp-molded material cannot form specific cushioning material having complex shape, thus resulting in the restricted field of use.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to fully solve the above problems incidental to conventional cushioning materials by providing a novel method and a novel apparatus for compressively molding an improved cushioning material made from recycled paper or pulp featuring soft superficial touch without fear of incurring damage to packaged product, substantial strength, and substantial shock-absorptive property, and yet, perfect adaptability to complex shapes.